Fish hook and knot therefor

ABSTRACT

A fish hook ( 10 ) comprising: a hook portion ( 11 ); a shank ( 12 ) extending from the hook portion ( 11 ); and a line attachment portion ( 13 ) to engage a fishing line ( 17 ) to secure the fishing line ( 17 ) to the hook ( 10 ), said attachment portion ( 13 ) comprising a pair of a legs ( 14, 15 ) which extend to a junction, with one of the legs ( 14, 15 ) having a free end ( 16 ) and the other leg being a continuation of the shank ( 12 ), said legs ( 14, 15 ) each having a line engagement portion ( 33 ), with the line engagement portions ( 33 ) being spaced by a distance of at least one time the diameter of the fishing line ( 17 ). A knot to secure the hook ( 10 ) and a method of forming it is also disclosed.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to fishing hooks.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Fishing hooks have conventionally consisted of a hook portion from whichthere extends a shank. The shank terminates with an eyelet whichcooperates with the fishing line to secure the hook to the fishing line.

Securing the line to a conventional fishing hook is reasonably tediousand time consuming. These problems are exacerbated in cold weather or ifthe user is wearing gloves. Still further, conventional attachmentmethods are known to fail in that the hook becomes detached.

The two most common knots used are the blood knot or several halfhitches which, when tied by amateurs, result in a reduction of theachievable line strength by 30 to 50% from the nominal line strength.This is due to the fact that today most mono-filament lines are verygood in tensile strength but are weakened easily by heating and chainrelocation. Most of the afore mentioned conventional knots cause thepolymer chain to twist in both dimensions around sharp angles especiallyas the line tightens against itself in knot formation. These distortionscreate frictional heat and the knot and line wrapping does not allowgenerated heat to escape, thereby reducing the normal line strengthsignificantly. The above problems are equally applicable to theconstruction of commercial fishing lines, in which the hooks are securedto the line by means of a mechanically constructed knot. These knotsformed by machine in addition to the afore mentioned problems frequentlyover stress the line which can further increase the possibility offailure of the line.

From the above it follows that conventional fishing hooks with an eyeletonto which the fishing line is secured using conventional attachmentknots does significantly limit the line strength, i.e. premature linebreaking occurs.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with a first aspect of the present invention there isprovided a method of forming a knot to attach a fishing line to afishing hook, the hook having a shank terminating at one end with a lineattachment portion including a retaining means and terminating atanother end with a hook portion, said method including the steps oflocating two portions of the line together so that the line portions aregenerally co-extensive, wrapping the coextensive portions about theshank to form pairs of convolutions, with each pair consisting of aconvolution from each coextensive portion, a first one of the pairsbeing located closer to the hook portion and a second one of the pairsbeing located closer to the attachment portion, with said line extendingfrom one of the coextensive portions of the first one of the pairs backupon itself to the other coextensive portion of the first one of thepairs so that the line forms a loop, passing said loop over saidattachment portion, moving the convolutions to said retaining means andapplying a force to one or both of the lines extending from the pair ofconvolutions closest to the retaining means away from the convolutionsso as to diminish the size of the loop without the loop being passedback over the attachment portion.

In accordance with a second aspect of the present invention there isprovided a fish hook including a hook portion, a shank extending fromthe hook portion, and a line attachment portion to engage a fishing lineto secure the fishing line to the hook, said attachment portionincluding two legs which extend from a junction, with a first of thelegs having a free end which in use remains spaced from the secured leg,and a second leg being connected to the shank, wherein the second leg isarranged to extend in substantially the same direction as the shank,said legs each having a line engagement portion, with the lineengagement portions, from the free end of the first leg substantially tothe junction, being spaced by a distance of at least one times thediameter of the fishing line, the first leg being arranged such that ablood knot when tied from the fishing line at the attachment portioncould be slid off along the second leg, and slid around the junction andshield along the first leg and over the free end of the first leg.

Preferably, an elongated clear space is defined between said lineengagement portions, the clear space having a length several times thespacing between the line engagement portions.

Advantageously, the first leg terminates with an end portion whichdiverges away from the second leg.

Further, the line engaging portions are preferably spaced by a distanceof between one and two times the fishing line diameter.

Preferably, the hook is formed from plastic or metal.

In accordance with a third aspect of the present invention there isprovided a knot to secure the hook of any one of claims 2 to 6, saidknot including a pair of generally parallel coextensive line portionswound about one of said two legs to form pairs of convolutions andextending to a loop joining the line portions, the loop being formedaround one of the two legs with said line portions passing between theloop and the pairs of convolutions.

In accordance with a fourth aspect of the present invention there isprovided a method of forming a knot to attach a fishing line to afishing hook, the hook having a shank terminating at one end with theline attachment portion including a termination portion and terminatingat another end with a hook portion, said method including the steps ofwrapping the fishing line at least twice about the shank to form atleast two convolutions, with a first portion of the line having a freeend extending from a first of the at least two convolution locatedclosest to the attachment portion, moving the convolutions to saidretaining means and pulling a second portion of the line extending froma second one of the at least two convolutions being located furthestaway from the retaining means so that the second portion crosses theconvolutions and the first portion of the fishing line.

In accordance with a fifth aspect of the present invention there isprovided a knot to secure the hook of the invention, said knot includinga first portion of the line being wound about the first or the secondleg to provide a plurality of convolutions, a second portion of the linehaving a free end extending from a first one of the convolutions beinglocated closest to the junction, and a third portion of the lineextending from a second one of the convolutions located furthest awayfrom the junction back over the convolutions and said second portion.

It is an advantage of at least one embodiment of the present inventionto provide a knot that reduces damaging effects to the fishing lineduring the tying of the knot as the tightening occurs around the shankof the hook thereby resulting in a larger diameter with a gentlerbending rate when compared to a knot wherein the line is bent arounditself (i.e. a smaller diameter). In at least one embodiment the shankacts as a heat sink for the fishing line thereby conducting frictionalheat that may be created under a varying load away from the knot (i.e.the fishing line). It is another advantage of at least one embodiment ofthe invention to provide a knot configured such that tying occurswithout excessive frictional resistance as the knot forms on the shankwith little slippage (thus light tension) when compared to a knotwherein the tightening includes tightening the line against itself.

A further advantage of at least one embodiment of the invention toprovide a knot that applies less degrees of twist per length of line inthe knot thus reducing the chain damage due to the twisting of the line.

It is another advantage of at least one embodiment of the invention toprovide a knot wherein the line spirals along the shank of the hook suchthat under load the line does not twist or rotate excessively but doeselongate by slight slippage along the hook.

The invention may be more fully understood from the followingdescription of preferred embodiments of the method, the hook and theknot of the present invention provided with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the figures

FIG. 1 is a schematic side elevation of the steps of applying a fishingline to a fishing hook;

FIG. 2 is a schematic side elevation of the fishing hook of FIG. 1 withthe fishing line attached thereto;

FIG. 3 is a schematic top plan view of the fishing hook and line of FIG.2;

FIG. 4 is a schematic bottom plan view of the fishing hook of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a series of schematic illustrations of method steps ofapplying a fishing line to the fishing hook of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a schematic side elevation of a hook;

FIG. 7 provides four end elevations of different modifications of onehook portion of the hook of FIG. 6; and

FIG. 8 provides a side elevation of a modification of one portion of thehook of FIG. 6.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

In the accompanying drawings there is schematically depicted a fish hook10. The fish hook 10 has a hook portion 11 extending to a shank 12. Theshank 12 extends to an attachment portion 13. The attachment portion 13in this embodiment is of a “U” configuration in that a pair of spacedlegs 14 and 15 are provided. The leg 15 is a continuation of the shank12, while the leg 14 has an end part 16 which diverges with respect tothe other leg 15.

The fishing line 17 is attached to the hook 10 in the following manner.

The hook is held between the thumb and a finger with the hook portion 11closer to the palm of the hand. The attachment portion is exposed asbest seen in FIG. 1(A).

The line is then gripped and wrapped around the shank three or fourtimes. This is shown in FIG. 1(D). In that regard it should beappreciated that the line can be wrapped clockwise or anti-clockwiseabout the shank 12.

The free end of the line is released and the other portion of the lineextending from the shank 12 is gripped and pulled so that the coils 18are pulled into the slot 19. The finished assembly is best seen in FIGS.2 to 4.

Preferably the legs 14 and 15 have line engaging portions 33 separatedby a distance of at least one times the diameter of the line 17. Whenthe hook 10 is formed of plastics material, preferably the portions 33are spaced by one to two times the line diameter. It is also preferredthat the slot 19 defined between portions 33 has a length ofapproximately five times the diameter of the line 17.

The slot 19 could taper towards the end junction 20.

To remove the line 17, the coils 18 are moved down the shank 12 towardsthe hook portion 11.

In FIG. 5 there is illustrated a knot 32. In this embodiment the fishingline 17 is held so as to provide two generally co-extensive lineportions 20 and 21. The portions 20 and 21 are wrapped around the shank11 as best seen in FIG. 5(B) so as to form at least two sets 22 and 23of convolutions. Each set 22 and 23 consists of a pair of convolutions24 and 25 and 26 and 27. The set of convolutions 22 is closest to thehook portion of the hook 10, while the set of convolutions 23 is closestto the attachment portion 13. Extending from the set 22 is a loop 28which is passed over the attachment portion 13 so that the line portion20 is on the side of the shank 11 that can be seen while the portion 21is on the other side of the shank 11. The loop 28 is then located in theposition shown in FIG. 5(D). Thereafter, the convolutions are moved intoengagement with the attachment portion 13 and one or preferably both ofthe line portions are pulled so as to decrease the size of the loop 28so that a knot 32 is formed. (During this step it has to be ensured thatthe loop 28 is not passed back over the attachment portion 13.) FIG.5(E) is the top plan view of the knot 32, while 5(F) is the bottom planview.

The above described preferred embodiments have the advantages of makingit easy to attach the line 17 to the hook 10. The tedious steps oftrying to thread the line through the eye of and then tying aconventional hook are eliminated.

In FIG. 6 there is schematically depicted a fishing hook 40. The hook 40is similar to the previous embodiments except that in the presentinstance the hook 40 is formed of plastics material and would preferablybe moulded therefrom. The hook 40 has a hook portion 41 extending to ashank 42. The shank 42 extends to an attachment portion 43. Thearrangement is basically the same as the previously discussedembodiments.

The shank 42 is of a “T” transverse cross section so as to provide alongitudinally extending ridge 46 extending from a base 47. The ridge 46may also extend to the hook portion 41. The ridge 46 may be straight asillustrated in FIG. 7(B) or may follow a curved path as shown in FIG.7(A). As a further alternative, the ridge 46 may be provided with barbsas shown in FIGS. 7(C) and 7(D). As a further alternative the hookportion 41 may terminate with a barbed end 48 provided with smallerbarbed portions 49 as shown in FIG. 8. The ridge 46 may include thebarbs to aid in holding bait on the hook portion 41.

The hook portion 41 may also be of a triangular transverse cross sectionas shown by the cross sections 50.

It would be appreciated by a person skilled in the art that numerousvariations and/or modifications may be made to the present invention asshown in the specific embodiment without departing from the spirit orscope of the invention as broadly described. The present embodiment is,therefore, to be considered in all respects to be illustrative and notrestrictive.

The claims defining the invention are as follows:
 1. A method of forminga knot to attach a fishing line to a fishing hook, the hook having ashank terminating at one end with a line attachment portion including aretaining means and terminating at another end with a hook portion, saidmethod including the steps of: locating two portions of the linetogether so that the line portions are generally co-extensive; wrappingthe co-extensive portions about the shank to form pairs of convolutions,with each pair consisting of a convolution from each coextensiveportion, a first one of the pairs being located closer to the hookportion and a second one of the pairs being located closer to theattachment portion, with said line extending from one of the coextensiveportions of the first one of the pairs back upon itself to the othercoextensive portion of the first one of the pairs so that the line formsa loop; passing said loop over said attachment portion; moving theconvolutions to said retaining means and applying a force to one or bothof the lines extending from the pair of convolutions closest to theretaining means away from the convolutions so as to diminish the size ofthe loop without the loop being passed back over the attachment portion.2. A fish hook and fishing line combination including: a hook portion; ashank extending from the hook portion; and a line attachment portion toengage the fishing line to secure the fishing line to the hook, theattachment portion including two legs that extend from a junction, afirst leg of the two legs having a free end that, in use, remains spacedfrom a second leg of the two legs, the second leg being connected to theshank and arranged to extend in substantially the same direction as theshank, the first and second legs each having a line engagement portion,with the line engagement portions, from the free end of the first legsubstantially to the junction, being spaced by a distance of at leastone times a diameter of the fishing line, wherein the line engagementportion of the first leg has a leg part and an end part extendingbetween the leg part and the free end of the first leg, and wherein theleg part is substantially parallel to the second leg, and the end partdiverges away from the second leg, and wherein the fishing line includesa pair of generally parallel coextensive line portions wound about thesecond leg to form pairs of convolutions and extending to a loop joiningthe two line portions, the loop being formed around the first leg withthe line portions passing between the loop and the pairs ofconvolutions.
 3. The hook and line combination of claim 2, wherein anelongated clear space is defined between the line engagement portions,the clear space having a length several times the spacing between theline engagement portions.
 4. The hook and line combination of claim 2,wherein the line engagement portions are spaced by a distance of betweenone and two times the fishing line diameter.
 5. The hook and linecombination of claim 2, wherein lie hook is formed from plastic ormetal.
 6. The hook and line combination of claim 2, wherein the end partis of a length of several times the diameter of the fishing line.
 7. Afish hook and fishing line tied thereto, comprising: a hook having ahook portion, a shank extending along an axis from the hook portion, anda U-shaped terminal portion having first and second legs substantiallyparallel to one another and connected by a smoothly-curved junctionportion, the first leg having an end part which diverges away from thesecond leg, the second leg being an extension of the shank, and afishing line having two line portions, the line portions being wrappedaround the second leg so as to form at least one pair of convolutionsaround the second leg, the fishing line also having a loop extendingfrom one of the pair of convolutions, the loop extending around thefirst leg.
 8. The hook and line combination of claim 7, wherein thefirst and second legs define an elongated clear space therebetween, andthe clear space has a length several times the spacing between the firstand second legs.
 9. The hook and line combination of claim 8, whereinthe first and second legs are spaced by a distance of between one andtwo times a diameter of the line.
 10. The hook and line combination ofclaim 7, wherein the hook is formed from plastic or metal.